What value does MojiPage add?
MojiPage appears to be the first available effort to use FriendFeed’s API to provide a mobile interface to FriendFeed. The question is “what value does MojiPage add to the user community?”
First a little about me: I was asked to provide input here on FriendFeedWatch because Steven does not have a cell phone therefore does not feel like he can talk about the mobile space whereas I have been fairly vocal about being a heavy mobile web browsing user. I currently use a Sprint MotoQ on Microsoft Windows Mobile Version 5.0. Therefore, until I state otherwise, please assume that my reviews are based upon this smartphone platform. I am not a developer, programmer, nor otherwise credentialed technical geek. However, I am a user, consumer, and often early adopter of new technology and services. I have been frequently viewing the FriendFeed pages using both the MotoQ and the Desktop computer monitor. They are just as readable on the MotoQ as on the desktop computer screen. However, I have been perpetually frustrated by the inability to comment or respond in anyway back through FriendFeed when using the MotoQ. This in essence is the missing component: the ability to participate in and interact with the FriendFeed community while mobile.
Now then, to answer the question:
- This afternoon (Friday April 4th) I signed up for MojiPage.
- I initially had difficulty with registering for MojiPage and creating the FriendFeed Widget. I tried a couple of different email addresses to create accounts but received the same widget errors on each each account. I reviewed the FriendFeed procedures and ended up adding the FriendFeed widget more than once even going so far as to reset my FriendFeed remote key at one point. I finally used the MojiPage Feedback link to ask for help.
- At 7:26 PM CST Will Tan responded by email with advice for properly using the “FriendFeed remote key.” He also apologized with the following statement: “I apologize for the uninformative error. It should have been more clear, and will be fixed over the weekend.”
- Believing that I had used the remote key correctly, I sent back an email to that effect. (I am after all the typical user. “User error? Couldn’t be! I know what I’m doing.” Famous last words.)
- At 9:09 PM CST Will Tan responded once again in what I thought was a very diplomatic manner “The error that we got from FF for those widgets is: 401 Unauthorized. After some testing, I found that friendfeed nickname is case-sensitive and the first widget probably failed because the nickname was “SeekGround” instead of the all-lowercase version. I’m not sure what the error is on the second widget, since the nickname seems to be correct. Have you ever reset the friendfeed remote key? At least the one that is good seems to be fine. ”
- “One’s working?”, I asked myself. How did I miss that? Sure enough it was. I checked out the shiny new widget on the MotoQ. The user interface that I see on the mobile phone is bare bones and simple just like I like it. It looks in fact very much like the screenshot that Steven provided on his review. However what must appear dreary on a desktop computer, simply works for me on a cell phone. I would say that they need to work on their grouping and spacing to help with the readability. I would also say that I was extemely dissapointed by the lack of the ability to interact with FriendFeed (comment/like).
- At 10:11 PM CST I sent the following question back to Will Tan: “Do you plan to integrate the friendfeed features involving the > ability to comment or ‘like’ an entry?”
- At 10:42 PM CST I received the following response: “Absolutely! I’m working on it right now. Should have it up by tomorrow. ”
In conclusion, my overall impression is one of excellent custom service and an overall sense of rapid development to meet the needs expressed by the user community. Should they successfully give me the ability to interact with the FriendFeed community and continue with this winning attitude then I believe they will have a gigantic leg up on the competition. Even without the coming enhancements, they are well on their way to being the mobile start page that they want to be. However, without the enhancements, they will not be adding value to the FriendFeed mobile user community.
Conversation Tags: FriendFeed, MjiLabs, mobile, MojiPage